Anxiety Disorders

Dr. Rebwar Ghareeb HamaPsychiatrist

University of SulaimaniSchool of Medicine

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Panic DisorderPanic attacks:Panic attacks occur in the context of several different anxiety

disorders

• Patients with panic disorder report discrete periods of intense terror and fear of impending doom, which are almost intolerable

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There are three characteristic types of panic attacks with different relationships between the onset of the attack and the presence or absence of situational triggers:

1. Unexpected (uncued): not associated with situational triggers. These attacks are characteristic of panic disorder

2. Situationally bound (cued): occurs immediately on exposure to situational cue. These are characteristic of specific & social phobias

3. Situationally predisposed: more likely to occur on exposure to the situational cue but are not invariably associated with the cue and do not necessarily occur immediately after the exposure. these are specially frequent in panic disorder but may at times occur in specific & social phobias.

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DSM-IV Criteria for Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia:

A. Both 1 and 2 are required

1. Recurrent unexpected panic attacks occur, during which four of the following symptoms begin abruptly and reach a peak within 10 minutes in the presence of intense fear:

1. Palpitations, increased heart rate2. Sweating3. Trembling or shaking4. Sensation of shortness of breath5. Feeling of choking6. Chest pain or discomfort7. Nausea or abdominal distress8. Feeling dizzy, lightheaded or faint9. Derealization or depersonalization10. Fear of losing control or going crazy11. Fear of dying12. Paresthesias13. Chills or hot flushes

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2. At least one of the attacks has been followed by one month of one of the following:

a. Persistent concern about having additional attacksb. Worry about the implications of the attack, such as fear of having a heart attack

or going crazyc. A significant change in behavior related to the attacks

B. The presence of agoraphobia that has the following three components:

1. Anxiety about being in places or situations where escape might be difficult or embarrassing, or in which help might not be available

2. Situations are avoided or endured with marked distress, or these situations are endured with anxiety about developing panic symptoms, or these situations require the presence of a companion

3. The anxiety is not better accounted for by another disorder, such as social phobia, where phobic avoidance is only limited to social situations

C. Panic attacks are not due to the effects of a substance or medical condition

D. The panic attacks are not caused by another mental disorder, such as social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder

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Clinical Features of Panic Disorder:

A. Patients often believe that they have a serious medical condition. Marked anxiety about having future panic attacks (anticipatory anxiety) is common

B. In agoraphobia, the most common fears are of being outside alone or of being in crowds or traveling. The first panic attack often occurs without an acute stressor or warning. Later in the disorder, panic attacks may occur in relation to specific situations, and phobic avoidance to these situations can occur

C. Major Depression occurs in over 50% of patients. Agoraphobia may develop in patient with simple panic attacks. Elevation of blood pressure and tachycardia may occur during a panic attack

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Epidemiology of Panic Disorder:

A. The lifetime prevalence of panic disorder is between 1.5% and 3.5%. The female-to-male ratio is 3:1. Up to one-half of panic disorder patients have agoraphobia

B. Panic disorder usually develops in early adulthood with a peak onset in the mid twenties. Onset after age 45 years is unusual

C. First-degree relatives have an 8 fold increase in panic disorder

D. The course of the illness is often chronic, but symptoms may wax and wane depending on the presence of stressors. 50% of panic disorder patients are only mildly affected. 20% have marked symptomatology

E. The suicide risk is markedly increased, especially in untreated patients. Substance abuse, especially of alcohol, may occur in up to 40% of patients

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Differential Diagnosis of Panic Disorder:

A. Generalized Anxiety Disorder

B. Substance-Induced Anxiety Disorder

C. Anxiety Due to a General Medical Condition

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Treatment of Panic Disorder:

A. Mild cases of panic disorder can be effectively treated with cognitive behavioral psychotherapy with an emphasis on relaxation and instruction on misinterpretation of physiologic symptoms

B. Pharmacotherapy is indicated when patients have marked distress from panic attacks or are experiencing impairment in work or social functioning

1. Serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors and Tricyclic antidepressants are most often used

2. SSRIs are the first-line treatment for panic disorder. Initiate treatment at lower doses than used in depression because routine antidepressant doses may actually increase anxiety in panic disorder patients

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3. When using a Tricyclic antidepressant, the initial dose should also be low because of the potential for exacerbating panic symptoms early in treatment

4. Benzodiazepines may be used adjunctively with TCAs or SSRIs during the first few weeks of treatment. When a patient has failed other agents, benzodiazepines are very effective

5. Buspirone (BuSpar) is not effective for panic disorder

6. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) may be the most effective agents available for panic disorder, but these agents are not often used because of concern over hypertensive crisis

7. Medication should be combined with cognitive behavioral therapy for optimal outcome

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder• Obsession: Recurrent, Persistent thoughts,

impulses or images that the patient regards as absurd and alien, while recognizing them as the product of his own mind

• Compulsions: The motor component of an obsessional thought, also known as compulsive rituals

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• Obsessions increase anxiety ;where as carrying out compulsions reduce it; but when a person resists carrying out a compulsion, anxiety is increased

• People with disorder recognize that their actions are irrational or disproportionate

• Egodystonic: obsessions are described as egodystonic which means strange to the patient thinking

• OCD is disabling but responsive to treatment

• Suicide is a risk for all patients with OCD

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Epidemiology of OCD• Prevalence rate is 2-3%• OCD usually begins in adolescence or early adulthood, but it may

occasionally begin in childhood• In adolescents boys are more commonly affected than girls.• Mean age of onset is 20 years• The onset is usually gradual and most patients have a chronic disease

course with waxing and waning of symptoms in relation to life stressors

• Equally common among men and women• 15% of patients have a chronic debilitating course with marked

impairment in social and occupational functioning• Up to 50% of patients with Tourette's disorder have coexisting OCD;

however, only 5% of OCD patients have Tourette's disorder

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Aetiology of OCD1. Biological factors: A- Neurotransmitters: serotonin B- Brain imaging studies: increased activity in frontal lobes, basal

ganglia( especially the caudate), and the cingulum2. Genetic: A- Family studies: 5-7% of the parents of patients with OCD B- Twin studies: (monozygotic twin 50-80%, dizygotic twins 25%)4. Organic factors: Some evidence for organic brain disease

associated with obsessive symptoms such as encephalitis lethargica

5. Premorbid personality: 70% of patient with OCD have premorbid anankastic personality traits, cleanliness, rigid, checking personality

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Obsessions can occur in several forms (Types):

Presentation is heterogeneous; but there are certain patterns which are the major patterns

• Obsessive Thoughts: Repeated and intrusive words or phrases e.g.: Violent

• Obsessive Rumination: Repeated worrying themes of a more complex kind e.g.: about the world ending

• Obsessive Impulses: Repeated urges to carry out actions that are usually a dangerous, aggressive or socially embarrassing e.g. to shout obscenities in church, blaspheme in mosque

• Obsessive Phobias: Obsessive thoughts with a fearful content, e.g.: I must have cancer

• Obsessive Doubts: Repeated themes expressing uncertainty about previous actions, e.g.: gas tap, door…

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Differential diagnosis of OCD

1. Medical conditions:• Tourette disorder and other tic disorders• Temporal lobe epilepsy( complex partial epilepsy)• Head trauma• Post-encephalitic complications

2. Psychiatric disorders:• Schizophrenia• Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder• Phobias• Depressive disorders

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Treatment of OCD

A. Pharmacotherapy is almost always indicated.

• TCA: Clomipramine (Anafranil)

• SSRIs: Sertraline, Paroxetine, Fluoxetine, Citalopram, Escitalopram and Fluvoxamine are effective.

• Other drugs: Venlafaxine, MAOIs, Augmentation drugs

B. Standard antidepressant doses of Clomipramine are usually effective, but higher doses of SSRIs are usually required, such as Fluoxetine 60-80 mg, paroxetine 40-60 mg, or sertraline 200 mg

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C. Behavior therapy, such as CBT cognitive-behavioral therapy, thought stopping, desensitization or flooding may also be effective. A combination of behavioral therapy and medication is most effective

D. It is rare for treatment to completely eliminate the symptoms of OCD, but significant clinical improvement in symptoms can occur, and the patient’s functioning can be drastically enhanced

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Prognosis:

• 2/3 improves by the end of one year• Cases lasting more than 1 year usually run a

fluctuating course, few months or several years

• Poor prognosis associated with (Anankastic personality traits, continuing stressful event in life, severe symptoms)

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

• Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), formerly known as “traumatic neurosis,” may occur in practically anyone who has been exposed to an overwhelmingly traumatic event. Subsequent to the trauma, whether it be a life-threatening accident, torture, a natural disaster, or some other extraordinary calamity, patients re-experience the event over and over again as if unable to lay it to rest. A general withdrawal from present life occurs, and patients tend to be anxious and easily startled

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Faces of pain

ONSET

• As trauma may occur at any age, from childhood to senescence, so too can posttraumatic stress disorder. However, given that the most common precipitating traumas, such as combat, occur in early adult years, most cases have an onset in the twenties

• Symptoms may appear either acutely, within days or weeks after the trauma, or in a delayed fashion, after a latency of months or years

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